Eos, Family Fun and Wine

My sister, Roro came out from Colorado for a brief visit this weekend. She and Mom drove down from Pacific Grove and we went wine tasting and visited family in Fresno.

We were responsibly irresponsible.

We didn’t drink and drive our way to Fresno, although there are a number of wineries along the way. On Friday when they arrived while I was at work, Roro and Mom checked out a few wineries then when I got home she and I went to one of her favorites from a previous visit.

We went to EOS Winery. Eos being the goddess of dawn often portrayed with Pegasus she was cursed by Aphrodite to have an insatiable attraction to younger men. How tragic.

We had a blast!

I tend to be very responsible and usually the designated driver but I turned the keys over to her, had some wine and immediately got loopy. I’m a cheap drunk. By the time we were on our 3rd sample I was actually flirting back with a couple of guys bellied up to the same counter.

Saturday we drove over to Fresno to visit family and again had a blast. When we returned, Roro and I went to another handful of wineries. Although most had the drier reds so we didn’t do a lot of sampling, Ro prefers the sweeter wines, the sights were beautiful.

The late afternoon sun turned the fading leaves golden and the grapes were hanging full and nearly ripe. Fall harvest is just around the corner. I’m making plans to go to some of the harvest events this year.

Hope to see you there too!

Happy Honda has a Home

Our Honda Minivan is once again parked under the protection of the garage!

Yes, I drive a mom van. For my 50th birthday in, blah blah, number of years I plan to treat myself to a luxury 2 seater, perhaps a Mercedes or Fararri, as a midlife crisis present to myself. Hey, I dream big! For now Gwenn is my transportation.

It was not an easy feat to get her into the garage. My efforts to secure her spot were thwarted a few times but I persevered.

Right after I posted my blog entry on Friday, I knocked over a full, very large, cup of coffee next to my favorite blue chair where I sit to catch the sunrise and write. I have no idea why I'd placed it on the floor instead of the end table next to me?

Coffee, sans sugar but more cream than a cow has, spread all over my area rug. I was late to school/work mopping it up and flooding it with water and blotting. When I got home in the late afternoon, the situation didn't look good but there were things to do that didn't involve rugs and garages.

When I woke up on Saturday morning I made more coffee (I am a true addict) and got into my swimsuit. I have a neighbor who is an absolute creepoid stalker (but that's another story) so no way am I going out there naked even if my trees were larger and thicker. I lifted the lid on my hot tub which I discovered right away wasn't working. No steam. I hate having my brilliant plans go a muck.

I fixed some eggs and sausage, did some perusing and writing on the computer in my favorite spot and decided that I didn't like the way the spot on the rug was looking and I was not happy about the hot tub situation either.

I rediscovered my Tweet on twitter which I'm not so sure I enjoy due to the limiting number of characters per post available. But I didn't linger too long, I had a lot to do!

I fiddled with the controls on the hot tub. Since it'd been awhile, I started the draining process on the tub which involves locating the bug spray and squirting around the panel area, even inside, to make sure there are no more black widows lurking. Some memories don't go away.

I took out the filters and sent them through 3 quick cycles of the dishwasher without cleanser, removed them and then I ran another cycle with cleansers to clean out the dishwasher.

While the hot tub drained, I enlisted Red to help me drag the rug outside to the back patio where I proceeded to scrub it down by hand with some carpet cleaners. Because of the doggy smells, I decided to leave it with the cleaners on it for awhile.

I managed to get a few things put away in the garage but not very much. I raised the rug up off the cement and then rinsed it off. It was shocking to see how much of my backyard came rolling off with the soap and coffee, but its been 4 years since I had it washed so maybe not that shocking after all. Wow! Where does the time go?

I wiped out the hot tub and started to refill it. Red's friend arrived and I visited with his mom for a bit and then it was back outside where it looked like more soap was gathering in pools around the rug so I re-rinsed it.

I cooked stir fry for dinner, shut off the water for the hot tub trying to not think about how many gallons of precious water I'd used. I went to flip the breaker back on the hot tub and nothing. Nothing. No motor sounds just the the anticlimactic click as the breaker fell back inert.

I hit the test button. What is a test button in an electrical panel? Nothing! No clicks just a mush. I was expecting something like the reset buttons on the electrical outlets in my kitchen. An audible click with a solid feel. Nothing.

Something isn't working here and I could surly bet that I wasn't going to get a morning hot tub on Sunday either!

Bummer! I was completely done for the day. My muscles were cramping and protesting. I took a hot shower and managed to watch a DVD before dragging my sorry backside to bed.

I choose a Richard Gere fix with Shall We Dance. Nothing like a chick flick with a hottie in tuxedo to restore hope and soul. He is breath taking when he rises up the escalator holding a single red rose.

I'd almost forgotten my favorite explanation of marriage. Susan Seranden's character explains the reason people get married is to bare witness to one another's lives.

It's such a beautiful concept and so far away from my own life experiences that I always tear up just a bit. I also shore up a little faith that as long as I have breath there is hope that it could happen to me too. And isn't that the very purpose of chick flicks?

Well this morning arrived and I fixed another pot of coffee (I did mention that I'm an addict didn't I?) and sat in my favorite chair writing and perusing email and the Internet. then I fixed the boys waffles and bacon (I use the instant micro bacon, its fast and mostly clean), took a shower for my muscles and started in on the garage determined to park my car in there.

Well, I didn't get the other rooms cleaned up but I did manage to get the ceiling fan that will one day be in my son's room off of my bedroom floor where its been for 3 weeks. As the hot tub did not miraculously start up on its own, I may have the handyman or electrician put in the fan along with a few other things on my handyman list.

So the weekend wasn't a total success. It wasn't a bust either. I also got the mirror off the hall floor and hung up, the dust bunnies scampered and I sucked them up in the vacuum when I did the living room where the rug had been.

See, I did accomplish quite a bit, plus, I finished listening to my CD story, Natural Born Charmer, by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, which is typical chick-lit in an entertaining, laugh-out-loud romantic tale between a football player and a headless beaver. Too funny!

Operation Restore Order: Mission Possible

Hey, Irene here.

I wish that I could say that everything is put away where it belongs, but that would be a big fat LIE! And although I am many things, I do try to not lie. Please don't ask me how those pants look on you.

I could make up some excuses but they would merely be excuses. I know what I need and I'm going to jump through the hoops this weekend to get my home back in order.

This project requires my morning energy with daylight. During the week I do get up early but its before dawn and its homework, Internet work and work and school routines.

So tomorrow morning I get to sit in the hot tub early, have a hot breakfast and then start work in the garage at bright light!

I also require music or some other forms of distraction, a way to keep me in one location and I tend to work best when I have someone with me, even if they're not actually working.

So, I've borrowed a book on CD from the library to keep me physically in the garage listening to a story and less likely to wander away. Its sort of like someone is reading to me so maybe that will also help me pretend someone is working with me. Maybe.

Hearing a book on CD has the added benefit of being a reward for me. I've been feeling a bit under spoiled with all of the hard work I've done lately and no time to read, my favorite self-indulgence.

Sunday, I repeat my morning of hot tub and hot breakfast and then work in the home restoring order.

I've got a new book I've ordered from Amazon for added reward that should arrive tomorrow or Monday. Yippee! More self-indulgence but only as my reward for restoring order in my home.

Which really, I know, should be its own reward.

TMS (Too Much Stuff) and an ADHD disorder

As I alluded to in my previous post, I have a lot of beautiful and quite a lot of not so beautiful things. Just things. Dozens of vintage cameras, dozens of tin thermometers and dozens upon dozens of pottery items.

Only some of which I really like. I still have a thing for McCoy planters and a few other McCoy items.

Mostly I have way too much stuff!

The solution seemed simple enough at the time, have a combination yard and collector sale. Yard Sale items outside, and collector items inside.

My brother, who helped me arrive at this solution also volunteered to come up to help me execute the solution. He's been an incredible help! For the past two weekends, there has been a yard and collector sale at my home. He helped the first weekend and Mom came down for the second.

And it was a huge success!

Although I still have a lot of stuff - I have less now.
I was just a bit naive about some of the details it took to execute the plan.

For example, at my brothers suggestion, he and I emptied out the garage of items not for sale.
These items are now stacked in places around my home awaiting my attention. Like I can miss this huge pile of papers in front of my office or the other stack just outside my office? I look at these stacks of things I still need to sort and I freeze up.

It's just too much to face and a real slap-in-the-face with the reality of my ADHD. Now, I'm bright enough to understand that ADHD is very real, and that like any other challenge, one can compensate with other strengths and even find ways to overcome some of the challenges. I even know on a cognitive level ways to overcome many of the challenges. But just looking at the stacks of stuff and I feel as if my brain functions are switched off like a light bulb.
I'm not looking to cure myself of ADHD, I actually embrace many of the aspects it brings to me, especially my creativity.

There are many muse with ADHD to be sure!

It's just I've got to tackle this project one step at a time, or in this case, box at a time. Yes, cognitively I understand it, but looking around my home at the disorder brings to mind the challenges of ADHD and why it is considered a disorder.

Stay tuned as I put myself and home back in order.

The kill on eBay

This is an ex-husband story so if you're just not into those, please accept my apologies and find another one of my posts. Perhaps you'd like to hear about my wonderful son, Red (not related in any way to this particular ex) and his adventures with his canine brother, Mick? 

There are a lot of reasons I am no longer married to the ex and eBay is just one of them. The ex was addicted to what he called, "the kill". He'd surf the eBay site looking for things he enjoyed collecting. 

He'd put it on his list to watch and he'd track the item and then just as the sale was about to end, I'm talking the very last few seconds of the sale, he'd swoop in and snatch the treasure away from someone with a bid just as low as he could above theirs. The Kill!

I don't think "The Kill" is in the true spirit of eBay, but oh how he enjoyed it. Dinner was often timed around his hunting schedules. I never did share his passion for it, even when he claimed to have gotten things for me. 

Like many other wives of hunters, I had a lot of work to do after his successful kills. Paperwork! Posting. Tracking. Money. Sure, he'd "reimburse" me for the items after making me ask a few times (is that passive aggressive or a control issue?), but I didn't get reimbursed for my time...

...until now when I offer it all back from which it came! See you on eBay!

just as soon as I graduate eBay University and know how to create a store...

Hot Hot Hot Yard and Collectibles Sale

I don't know who's bright idea it was to hold a yard sale on the hottest day in September and possibly even August but it was a success!

We sold some cookies and bottled water along with the yard sale items which brought in some extra cash too. The whole day went fairly smooth in spite of record heat. 

We sold a lot of the kid items, and a number of the collectible items and other household items. We had a steady stream of traffic thanks in part to Craigslist and our signs. 

We'd gotten some change the day before and had things pretty well set up to ensure a smooth day. Having the kids sell the waters, cookies and their own items helped them to make connections to money that they never would have gotten in a classroom!

Did I mention yet that the above photos are after the sale? 

We'll be having a repeat this next week with a 20% - 50% reduction in prices. I like the money and I'm enjoying having less clutter and reminders of the ex around. Oh, how he enjoyed "the kill" on eBay. I'll have to tell you that story someday.

Clutter Purging and Clarity of Mind

I have a genetic predisposition to weight gain - the external type. I am a pack-rat. My grand mother saved everything, and mom may not save exactly everything but she has clothes and shoes in more than two closets. 

I'm more like my grandmother. I have boxes and boxes of stuff. Now mind you many items are important - to me. I have inherited most of my grandmother's photographs and I really will one day sort through them. In fact, I have sorted through several boxes of them already. But she was a shutterbug who lived into her nineties.

I also have a lot of photography stuff of my own. Thanks, Grandmom. and I really do mean thanks, I love photography. I also have a couple boxes of seashells for some projects that I will one day get to... and other craft items, and... 

all kinds of collectible stuff that I received from an ex-husband who was addicted to ordering from ebay and oh my gosh, the paperwork challenges of a woman with ADHD. Unless you have ADHD (or love someone who has it) you have no idea what I'm talking about!

Things and projects and stuff can weigh one down in so many ways! 

If you're a pack rat maybe its time... Purge yourself! 

Get help if you need it, either to help physically and/or mentally or even emotionally. I need all the help I can get.

My brother is helping me to put on a yard sale and collector's sale. He's been helping me go through boxes and organize and price and such. Having him here has been really helpful in keeping me focused. He also reminds me by just knowing his own habits, that with help, one can overcome the clutter-bug and pack rat syndromes. 

I keep my objective in focus - better clarity of thought for the projects I want to do, like write and put those pictures Grandmom and I have taken to use!